March 29, 2024

About

T1 Diabetic, Humanist, sci-fi geek, space nerd; nemesis of mornings. He/Him. Ally.

Career

In the past I have worked in arts marketing, as a voice-over/actor/narrator, stage actor, script writer, and an audio video editor for venues and production companies along the local town bus route. In an unexpected turn of events I left the creative industry and I am now approaching two decades in the security industry, working as a CCTV Control Room Supervisor at a City Council.

WritING

My writing influences are J Michael Straczynski, Douglas Adams, Bill Bryson, George Carlin, and Carl Sagan; funny, informative, and poignant in their own way. Before 2009 I had written nothing creatively, since some plays at college in the 90’s. Then Type 1 diabetes came into my life and the written word became my therapy. I write about diabetes, my travels, bits of fiction, the odd dodgy poem, and the occasional diatribe; life, the universe – you know the rest. I sometimes post themed Spotify playlists to compensate for having nothing else to offer except for themed Spotify playlists…

PhotographY

Having worked and played behind a video camera for so many years, I didn’t pick up a stills camera until the mid 2020’s. The day I bought a DSLR was the day photography became one of my passions, both during the editing stages in Lightroom, playing with filters and styles, and ‘out in the wild’.  I currently shoot with an old Nikon D3200, a Sony A6000 and my Sony Xperia 1 – and I have a Nikon Z50 in my sights.

Like a lot of photographers, I get regular bouts of GAS (gear aquisition syndrome). My favourite lenses are superzooms, such as my Sigma 18-300 and Sony 18-140 because of the freedom and, most importantly, fun they offer. I also own several primes and enjoy seeing what shots I can find sticking to one focal length. I’m still clueless with a flash and lazy with my Three Legged Thing tripod. I nearly always shoot RAW… plus JPEG.

Voice Over

A lot of my coaching and voice over experience came from doing narration for media production companies I worked at during the early-mid 00’s. I’ve always been a fan of audio dramas and gravitated more toward sound when I was an editor – mixing 5.1 audio for in-house and Japanese DVD releases. Alas, I’m nowhere to be found on IMDB. Having decided to find a line of work with more stability when my current production company started culling staff, I found myself in the security industry where I voiced several characters in a CCTV promotional video. Shift work and a second job meant it was not logistically possible to continue to do VO work.

In 2020, being told to stay at home for what would be fifteen months I began to crave creativity; performance. Dusting off an Blue Yeti microphone for Teams meetings during ‘The Pandemic’, I rediscovered my VO voice. Mindful that the industry had moved on, I started doing online courses and bought all the ‘must have’ VO books, and subscribed to the essential YouTubers. Four boxes of acoustic foam, a Focusrite Scarlet interface, Synco D2, and copy of Reaper later, I started noodling: writing and recording skits. It’s quite fun!

The Rest OF ME

In music I have eclectic taste, but gravitate towards electric. From Holst’s Planets to Pink Floyd to Pet Shop Boys, music is my constant companion; it’s a time, a place; a memory. I listen through Etymotic ER4, Beyerdynamic DT990 PRO or Jabra Elite 85t. I still rock a HRT Microstreamer DAC; for my mobile it’s a Hip-DAC. Peace EQ for PC and Wavelet EQ for Android are game changers. FLAC does sound better than MP3, remasters aren’t always better, the original Vinyl is warmer, DAC’s do matter.

I like my sci-fi shows set in space; ‘Babylon 5’ and ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ are my all-time favourites. Time travel episodes are my least favourite, and shows that start dramatically before cutting to ‘hrs earlier’. My favourite detectives are Sherlock Holmes (Brett), Hercule Poirot (Suchet), and Columbo. I hate Jane Austin-type period dramas; anything revolving around the British class system. I enjoy Spaghetti Westerns and Film Noir. I’m a sucker for monologues. I despise lens flair and orange and teal colour grading. No to all musicals.

I grew up reading Asterix, Beano, and Dandy comics. I’m also a 90’s-00’s DC Comics fan – Batman and other Gotham titles. Cartoons I feasted on as kid were Loony Tunes, He-Man, Transformers, Thundercats, and M.A.S.K. with lashings of Danger Mouse and sprinkes of Count Duckula. ‘Batman the Animated Series’ sits at the very top of the mountain.

I love tinkering with emulators and frontends. I still play childood favourites like ‘Lotus Turbo Challenge’ and ‘F1 ’97’ on my phone. I love driving and racing games and have used racing wheels since the 90’s. My all-time favourite non-driving game is ‘Wing Commander’. There should be rehab centres for Cities Skylines addicts.

I seldom read or watch the news, or read opinions and reviews. I avoid talk of politics and religion.  I hate adverts that change popular song lyrics; I hate lazy uninspired writing – old tropes and tired clichés. Make it dark, make it edgy, make it brooding, but for fuck’s sake tell some jokes!

Indycar over F1, AEW over WWE, Android over Apple, PC over Console, Nikon over Canon, Jim Beam over Jack Daniels, coffee beans over instant. Love over hate.

“Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see”. – Edgar Allan Poe

Creative content is never always a true representation of an individual’s worldview. This website exists for the sole purpose of satisfying my own creative indulgences.  Treat what you see, read, or hear as entertainment. I am an authority on nothing; I am a mouthpiece for no one. What I am, is for diversity!

If you like something on this site so much that it compels you to tell me about it, please feel free via email or Instagram.  If you dislike something so much that you feel you must project negative energy toward me, read the last paragraphs again. Breathe in, breathe out, breath in, breath out…

Thank you for reading.